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Duvian Pantheon
For the vast majority of the Duvian Imperium's history, they worshipped the ancient Duvian gods. The worship of these gods is deeply entrenched into the history of Aenar, having long lasting impacts on the world, especially with the rise of the Daemoni. Pantheon The Duvian Pantheon consists of five primary deities: Telecanar, Deidictus, Xathurian, Rurial, and Aemachial. Telecanar Telecanar is the least powerful of the gods, governing travel, messages, trade, and the night and day cycle. Telecanar was originally depicted as a winged-man carrying the sun in his left hand and the moon in his right hand. He is also believed to be the son of Xathurian and Rurial, and the twin brother of Deidictus. Deidictus Deidictus is on fairly equal level to Telecanar. He is the god of craftsmanship, working with Telecanar to establish the economic power behind the Imperium. He was originally depicted as a muscular man with wielding a smithing hammer. Xathurian Xathurian is the father of Telecanar and Deidictus, acting as the god of government and war. He is the son of Aemachial and the husband-brother of Rurial. Before the Fall, he was depicted as an armored warrior, wielding a longsword and a golden scepter and wearing a crowned helm. Rurial Rurial is the only goddess of the Duvian Pantheon, the daughter of Aemachial and the wife-sister of Xathurian. Rurial governs agriculture and fertility, the other fundamental facet of civilization. She was originally depicted as a nude woman, wearing only a toga-skirt. Aemachial Aemachial is the chief deity of the Duvian Pantheon, the all-father of the other deities and the most powerful. He is the god of magic and the source of all arcane power in the Pantheon religion. He was originally depicted as a robed wise man with a crowned staff. It was through his authority that the praetori claimed their right to rule over the rest of the Imperium. The Fall of the Gods and the Prophecy of the Champions Some time during the Ancient Era, the Duvian gods lost a battle against their chief foe, an entity of darkness and destruction known only as the Void. In the Duvian religion, the defeat of the gods to the Void is attributed to the failings of the Duvian people, during a lapse of worship--the fuel of the god's power. When the Void forced the gods out of their seat of power in the Aetherium, the Godsrealm, they fell to the earth as great dragons, crashing deeping into the core of Aenar. But all was not lost. The Duvian priests prophesised that mankind was destined to fight against the Void to reclaim the Aetherium for their fallen gods, building the power of the gods through the expansion of the Imperium--which would spread the worship of the gods across Aenar. After this point, five praetors would be chosen by the gods to act as their champions to enter the former seat of the gods and battle the Void for the fate of Aenar. This prophecy dominated Imperium politics and culture, with the early Hierarchs working to become the champion of Aemachial. This culminated in during the reign of Hierarch Remulach, during the height of the Imperium's power in 359 AF. Remulach, supposedly receiving a vision from Aemachial himself, believed that he was the destined champion and that it was final time to face the Void. Gathering his four closest praetors, who he believed were the other destined champions, Remulach delved deep into blood magic in order to tear a hole into the Aetherium to directly challenge the Void in the Godsrealm. In 364 AF, the five champions entered the Godsrealm. What occurred in the Godsrealm is widely debated by modern scholars--all that is known what happened when the champions returned to the mortal realm. The champions returned scarred and tainted, twisted shadows of men who were consumed with a bloodlust unseen by the races of Aenar. After a bloody conflict, the five were finally pushed out of Numenex, fleeing into the Deep Roads of the Drakari Mountains, unseen for the next few centuries. The Faith of the Creator teaches that these five had become the first Daemoni, fleeing to find the hidden draconic-bodies of their fallen gods and creating the Daemoni race that would threaten the realms of Aenar for the forseeable future. While the Duvian religion still remained, it was believed that the five had failed against the Void, which tainted the champions into his own minions of destruction to destroy the mortal realm and establish its reign over all of Creation. They still held out that the prophesised champions would be revealed and restore peace and prosperity to the Imperium and reassert the reign of the Pantheon in the Godsrealm. The Pantheon and the Faith of the Creator As the Faith of the Creator spread across the known world, the old Duvian Pantheon began dying. The experiences of the Daemoni Razings caused deep questionings of the validity of the Pantheon's teachings. Under the teachings of the Faith of the Creator, the Pantheon were not gods but actually powerful demons who had pulled mankind away from the worship of their true god, the Creator. These demons had been cast out of the Aetherium by the Creator for trying to usurp his throne. In retribution, they avowed to turn his creation against him and thus began to work their way into Duvian culture and portrayed themselves as the divine beings and the Creator as a demonic force known as the Void. They then propagated the prophecy of the Champions of the Gods, convincing the Duvian praetors that they were to fight against the Creator/Void and reclaim the Godsrealm for the Pantheon. As the worship of the Pantheon spread, the Creator eventually turned his back on the world, believing it to be lost. When Remulach and his four fellow praetors entered the Godsrealm to fulfill the Duvian prophecy, the Creator cast them out, tainting them as punishment for their sin and forced them to seek out the buried Pantheon to taint them as well. This would be the final punishment for mankind's disobedience, with the Daemoni acting as the divine justice by the Creator. The Faith teaches that unless the worship of the Creator is spread across Aenar, and all fully repent of their sins, the Daemoni will burn the world to the ground and unleash hell for the unfaithful who remain. The Godsrealm will be sealed away and all will suffer at the hands of the demons they once worshipped and empowered. Category:Religions